having been there done that - thank goodness everyone is safe.
BUT
why no orange on hull /foils?
why was escape hatch avaiable?
why were liferafts not placed to be deployed when inverted?
these are basic multihull and IMOCA60 rules, which seem to have been lost 'in translation'
Main thing everyone is safe

After I posted about my wish for a skippercam I saw the next day that they had it, good close shots from the controllable cam at wing base, and the port/stb cams can do the same thing. Close focus on the skippers has to be done to give sailing the same sort of strong human interest action content that makes tennis and golf so successful at drawing audience.

Nice idea. However they already have four cameras mounted to the boat (which v cooly can be zoomed and panned, etc from on shore)and given that there are nine boats and races only last 20 minutes each...you do the maths

The lack of wind for race one was OK; it was comforting to see Mother Nature remind all these Primadonnas that she can humble the best laid plans. - Only thing I'd mention after this first day of preliminaries, is that it would be nice to have a 'skippercam' on each boat. Put a camera on the wing that can focus on the skipper, and the human interest factor will be greatly improved.

So lets see....Phaedo has outsailed all those that started on the 29th, passed all the boats ahead of her, presently leading the race even though being a bona fide cruising boat and you only mention it in the very last sentence....Honestly, 464 miles for an allout 100 footer doesn't impress me very much.

James,
Regarding the line: "This marks the first time that boat hull design innovation will be applied to paddleboards," this isn't quite true. Morrelli and Melvin have designed a SUP that has been in production for about a year now: http://vimeo.com/12219362 . However, these are race SUP's rather than the wave specialized shapes I imagine Laird and Juan K. will pen.